The Osgoode Society For Canadian Legal History ANNUAL REPORT 2011 THE SEAL OF THE SOCIETY, REPRODUCED ON THE COVER OF THIS REPORT, REFLECTS AN Introduction ELEMENT OF THE ARMS OF JOHN BEVERLEY THE OSGOODE SOCIETY WAS INCORPORATED IN MAY OF ROBINSON FROM WHOM THE LAND ON WHICH 1979. IN 1993 IT BECAME THE OSGOODE SOCIETY FOR OSGOODE HALL IS BUILT WAS PURCHASED BY CANADIAN LEGAL HISTORY. FOUNDED AT THE INITIATIVE THE LAW SOCIETY OF UPPER CANADA IN 1829. OF R. ROY MCMURTRY, A FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL AND CHIEF JUSTICE OF ONTARIO, AND OFFICIALS OF THE LAW SOCIETY OF UPPER CANADA, ITS PURPOSE IS TO STUDY AND PROMOTE PUBLIC INTEREST IN THE HISTORY OF THE LAW, THE LEGAL PROFESSION AND THE JUDICIARY IN ONTARIO AND ELSEWHERE IN CANADA AND TO STIMULATE RESEARCH AND PUBLICATION ON THESE SUBJECTS. AMONG THE SOCIETY'S ACTIVITIES ARE ITS PUBLICATIONS PROGRAMME, AN ORAL HISTORY PROGRAMME, AND A RESEARCH SUPPORT PROGRAMME TO ASSIST SCHOLARS DOING RESEARCH IN CANADIAN LEGAL HISTORY. THE SOCIETY'S INTENTION IS THAT ITS ANNUAL PUBLICATION WILL BE FUNDED BY MEMBERSHIP FEES. THE CONTINUATION OF RELATED EFFORTS WILL DEPEND PRIMARILY ON SUPPORT FROM THE LAW FOUNDATION OF ONTARIO AND FROM PATRONS, BENEFACTORS AND SUSTAINING MEMBERS. The Osgoode Society For Canadian Legal History OSGOODE HALL 130 QUEEN STREET WEST TORONTO, ONTARIO. M5H 2N6 TELEPHONE - 416-947-3321 FAX NO. - 416-947-3447 E-MAIL - [email protected] WEBSITE - osgoodesociety.ca IT IS IMPORTANT THAT THE SOCIETY BE INFORMED PROMPTLY OF ANY CHANGE OF A MEMBER’S ADDRESS. PHOTO CREDIT: THE TORONTO STAR/B. SPREMO, C.M. 1 Editor’s Report We have had another very good year. The should include. In recent years we have embarked publication programme produced another four first on two initiatives to broaden the programme, one on class books (discussed below), and there are plenty African-Canadians in the legal profession, of titles at various stages for the future. They concentrating on the generation now finding its way include a history of the Ontario Court of Appeal, the onto the bench and into partnerships in major firms, memoirs of Roy McMurtry, a biography of the Hon. an the other we call ‘Main Street not Bay Street,’ in G. Arthur Martin, as well as works on early women which we interview lawyers in communities outside lawyers, Upper and Lower Canada, and a prominent downtown Toronto. Both programmes are well Toronto law firm. While many of our books are established and have yielded some fascinating brought to us by the authors, we continue to be insights. proactive in encouraging and supporting work as a We continue to work on a new, improved and way to fulfil our mandate of advancing knowledge much expanded website. The site itself is built, and of Canadian legal history. I have been fortunate to we are now adding content. After some delays, I be joined by a new Associate Editor, Professor expect the new site to go live in the early summer. Philip Girard of the Schulich School of Law, Check us out at www.osgoodesociety.ca. Dalhousie University, who is doing invaluable work for the Society. I look forward to another successful year, working with our President, Roy McMurtry, The oral history programme, our other principal Associate Editor Philip Girard, the dedicated Board activity, continues apace as well. We have now of Directors, and the ever present and ever interviewed over 558 people, and are always resourceful Marilyn MacFarlane. receptive to members’ suggestions about who we The Publishing Programme In 2011 The Society published four books. OPTIONAL EXTRAS ANNUAL BOOK We offered members three optional extras. The Lazier Murder: Prince Edward County, 1884, 1. Lawyers and Legal Culture in British North by Robert J. Sharpe, Justice of the Court of America: Beamish Murdoch of Halifax, by Philip Appeal for Ontario. Girard, Professor, Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University. Our members book for 2011 is a detailed analysis of a late nineteenth century murder case in Picton, Well known to Osgoode Society readers as the author Ontario. Robert Sharpe's latest offering for the of Bora Laskin, Philip Girard has written an account Osgoode Society details the murder of a local of an everyday lawyers' practice in the first half of resident and the subsequent court proceedings. the nineteenth century. It is also an exploration of The author provides a fascinating insight into the Canadian legal culture and of the links between law operation of the criminal justice system at that time, and politics, especially arguments over responsible including the pardon process. The trial may well government. have been a case of what we would now call a 'wrongful conviction', linking the past to a current 2. Dewigged, Bothered and Bewildered: British and compelling aspect of our criminal justice Colonial Judges on Trial, by John McLaren, process. Emeritus Professor of Law, University of Victoria. Professor McLaren has produced a series of case studies of nineteenth century judges from across the 2 British empire, including of course the Canadian colonies, who found themselves the centre of 2012 Publications political controversy and were either suspended or removed from office. Anchored by excellent ANNUAL BOOK introductory surveys of the process of judicial Arming and Disarming: A History of Gun Control appointment and the developing rules on judicial in Canada, by R. Blake Brown, Professor of independence, the book is the first of its kind on the History, St Mary’s University. Published by the organisation and operation of colonial judicial University of Toronto Press. systems. We are very pleased to publish this volume with the Francis Forbes Society, our Australian Although we may think of it as only a contemporary equivalent. concern, at many times in our history Canadian governments have evinced concern about gun 3. Westward Bound: Sex, Violence, the Law, and ownership and use. In the first comprehensive the Making of a Settler Society, by Lesley history of the subject, Blake Brown looks at gun use Erickson, Professor, Department of History, and regulation from the early periods of European University of Calgary. settlement to the controversy over the gun registry. He shows that rural and urban Canadians have In partnership with the University of British always had very different views about firearms. He Columbia Press, we published the first book of a also demonstrates that our governments attitudes young scholar which examines the operation of the towards guns have been complex. At different times criminal law in the prairie west in the late nineteenth governments sought to restrict certain types of guns, and first half of the twentieth centuries. Local court or to restrict gun ownership among certain people records and other sources are employed to see how and in certain locales. On other occasions the law worked on reserves, in the cities, and in the governments encouraged gun ownership, seeing it countryside, from high profile cases to day-to-day as a manly pursuit useful for training citizens to be policing and punishment practices. well versed in the practice of using firearms. IF YOU WISH TO RECEIVE any of the above ALL MEMBERS RECEIVE THIS BOOK AT NO books, please contact our offices. Once again, the EXTRA CHARGE. Society is offering a package deal of $120.00 to members who order all three books. OPTIONAL EXTRAS We offer members three optional extras. Book Reception 1. Canadian Property Law Cases in Context, A reception was held at Osgoode Hall, Toronto, on edited by Eric Tucker, Professor, Osgoode Hall October 26th, 2011 to launch the Society’s 2011 Law School, and Bruce Ziff and James Muir, books. Professors, University of Alberta Law School. Published by Irwin Law. This is another volume examining important Canadian cases by exploring their social, political and economic background, similar to Work on Trial (2010) and Race, Rights and Law in the Supreme Court of Canada (1997). The volume takes us from the Newfoundland seal hunt in the nineteenth century to Quebec nuisance law, and to more recent controversies involving restrictive covenants (Galbraith v Madawaska Club), pollution (KVP), 3 picketing (the Toronto Eaton Centre cases), economic regulation (Manitoba Fisheries), the theft Books Previously Published of information (R. v. Stewart), and land use 2011 The Lazier Murder: Prince Edward County, regulation (CPR v. Vancouver). 1884, Robert J. Sharpe Lawyers and Legal Culture in British North 2. Hunger, Horses and Government Men: America: Beamish Murdoch of Halifax, Philip Criminal Law on the Aboriginal Plains, 1870- Girard 1905, by Professor Shelley Gavigan, Osgoode Dewigged, Bothered and Bewildered: British Hall Law School. Published by the University of Colonial Judges on Trial, John McLaren British Columbia Press. Westward Bound: Sex, Violence, the Law, and the Making of a Settler Society, Lesley Erickson Professor Gavigan examines the introduction of 2010 Work on Trial: Canadian Labour Law Canadian criminal law and criminal justice Struggles, edited by Judy Fudge and Eric Tucker institutions in the old North West (present day A History of the British Columbia Court of Saskatchewan and Alberta) after its acquisition by Appeal, Christopher Moore Canada in 1870. Using newspapers, penitentiary Viscount Haldane:Wicked Stepfather of the records, Indian department files, and, principally, Canadian Constitution, Frederick Vaughan the records of stipendiary magistrates, she shows the Race on Trial: Black Defendants in Ontario's Criminal Courts, 1850-1950, Barrington Walker law’s impact on the aboriginal peoples of the west, as well as their use of it in coming to terms with the 2009 Canadian Maverick: The Life and Times of Ivan C. Rand, William Kaplan new political reality. A Trying Question: The Jury in Nineteenth Centre Canada, R. Blake Brown 3. The African-Canadian Legal Odyssey: Canadian State Trials, Vol.